Cynthia Eden - Glitter and Gunfire

Would he?

“I’m supposed to keep an eye on you. Supposed to keep you safe.” He paused a beat. “But you already know that, just as you seem to know so very much about—”

“The EOD?” Cassidy supplied in what she thought was a rather helpful way.

Silence was her answer.

But silence was pretty much the norm when it came to the EOD.

She sighed. “Look, uh, Agent, I—”

“Cale.”

Cassidy frowned, not that he could see her frown in the dark.

“My name’s Cale Lane.”

The words could be a lie. Other EOD agents had given her false names before. “All right, fine, Cale.” She headed toward him, her steps angry, a little too hard, but their sound was swallowed by the thick carpeting. “We’re ending this farce right now.”

She’d get Mercer on the phone. He could call off his attack dog.

“Why were those men after you?”

He didn’t know?

Her steps slowed.

“Two men died tonight,” he continued. “Two men who seem to have no identities. Their fingerprints had been burned away, and, so far, no one can figure out a single thing about their pasts.”

Her mouth was getting dry. “The EOD can figure out plenty. Just give them time.”

“Are you part of the EOD?”

He seemed so doubting that it was actually insulting. But she bit her lip before she snapped back a response at him. He obviously thought she was nothing but a piece of fluff, flitting around from party to party.

After all, wasn’t that exactly what she’d been doing for the past week, ever since she’d arrived in Rio? One party after another.

But that was her cover. What she was supposed to do.

Pity no one ever actually looked beneath her cover appearance.

Not even Mercer.

“I stood between you and a bullet tonight,” Cale said. His voice seemed even rougher, and it sent a shiver over her. “Don’t you think that entitles me to some explanations?”

No, she didn’t. “I don’t remember telling you to stand there.” Actually, if he hadn’t gotten in her way, then she would have finally made the headway that she needed on this case. Instead, he’d gotten all tough and alpha male, and she’d had to act defenseless as he’d carried her away.

If she’d fought him too hard, if she’d broken free, then all that she’d worked for would have been destroyed in an instant.

He rose slowly, a lethal shadow that came toward her with slow, stalking steps. She refused to retreat from him, but when he closed in, every cell in her body flashed on high alert.

Being near him made her feel too on edge.

Too aware.

She shoved back that awareness. Locked it deep inside.

“Two men got away tonight,” Cale told her. “Doesn’t that worry you?”

Yes. “No.”

“Liar.”

He seemed so sure. No one had seen past her lies before, so why would he be any different? “I want you out of my room.”

He didn’t move.

Fine. She skirted around him, made it to her nightstand and grabbed the smart phone there. One press of her fingers and— “Mercer?” she said when the EOD’s director answered the call. “What have you done now?”

She heard Cale’s sharp inhale.

“You’ve got the EOD director on speed dial?” he asked, seemingly shocked.

On speed dial? Um, something like that.

“Your agent is going to ruin everything,” she said, her words tumbling out. “I don’t know if you’ve heard about what happened tonight, but—”

“I heard.” Mercer’s flat voice, completely devoid of emotion, cut through her frantic speech. “I heard, and that’s exactly why Cale Lane is staying with you.”

Her fingers tightened around the phone. “If he’s here—”

“Then nothing will happen to you,” Mercer told her. “Cale is one of the best agents I’ve got. No one will get to you while he’s on guard.”

If no one could get to her...then how am I supposed to complete my mission? Only, Mercer didn’t think she had a mission. Mercer thought she needed to be coddled. Protected.

That she wasn’t strong enough to face the dangers in the world.

Wrong. Mercer didn’t know her very well. “This is a mistake.” She fought to keep her own voice as emotionless as his. Impossible. Emotion always ruled her.

Never him.

Hadn’t she learned that lesson long ago?

“No. This is your life, and I won’t risk it.” There was no give in his voice at all. “While you’re in Rio, Cale Lane stays with you.”

She was going to break the phone. In her mind, Cassidy could see it splintering beneath her hand into a dozen pieces. “If that’s what you want...” Because he always got what he wanted. When would she ever get what she wanted? Not bothering with any more words, Cassidy ended the call. After all, there was nothing else to say.

Her fingers trembled.

Cassidy turned toward Cale. She needed to phrase this right, in order to match up with the conversation she’d just had. Cassidy cleared her throat. “Mercer agreed that he’d made a mistake. Your services are no longer—”

Her phone rang.

Cale reached for her hand and pried open her fingers. He took her phone.

“Sir?” he said, and she knew he was talking to Mercer.

“Yes, she’s right here.”

Then he leaned forward and turned on the bedside lamp. She flinched when the light hit her. The sudden flow of light should have made Cale look less intimidating.

It didn’t.

She could see the hard edge of his jaw and the intense lines of his face. “I’ll stay with her. Every minute.”

The hell he would.

After a few more moments, Cale ended the call and stared down at her.

Emotions wanted to rip Cassidy apart right then. All of her hard work, for so long...for nothing.

“Mercer just promised me a briefing at 0600,” he said as his assessing gaze drifted over her. “You really going to make me wait until then in order to find out what’s going on with you?”

Not much time. “What’s going on is that I’m working a case, and your presence here jeopardizes its success.” Truth.

“Mercer doesn’t think so.”

That was because Mercer didn’t think she could handle things on her own.

“And you know the director...” Cale continued, rolling his shoulders as if pushing away a heavy burden. “When that SOB says jump, we’re all supposed to learn how to fly.”

Her breath rushed from her lungs. He doesn’t realize who I am. Cale had obviously decided that she was, indeed, another EOD agent.

Not quite, cowboy. Not quite. And he did remind her of a cowboy. Maybe it was that Texas drawl that slipped out every now and then. Maybe it was the hard edge that clung to him. The tough exterior.

But she was thinking of him as cowboy tough and he—he was thinking of her as the spoiled debutante. It grated, but as long as he didn’t realize exactly who she was, then his guard would stay lowered.

She’d had plenty of babysitters—um, bodyguards—over the past few years. She’d gotten pretty adept at handling them.

And dodging them.

Since Cale didn’t realize her true identity, that would make things even easier for her.

She smiled at him. A real smile.

He blinked. A furrow appeared between his dark brows.

“I think we got off on the wrong foot.” Cassidy even offered him her hand. Why not be friendly? That would help to make him feel even more at ease with her. “It looks like we’ll be...close...for the next few days, so maybe we should just start fresh.”

They’d be close until she could manage to ditch him and go after those gunmen on her own. They were in the city. Pinpointing their next attack area had been the tricky part. Now that she knew they were in the general area, she just had to track them.